


the roof was pretty windy (she didn't say a word)

by murphysarc



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, F/F, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 15:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5545403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murphysarc/pseuds/murphysarc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erica Reyes had been a hero all her life, except, until her best friend threw her off a roof. Nothing was the same, but that’s not a surprise.</p><p>Or, Erica and the pack are a part of a superhero team. Erica/Allison, Stiles/Lydia undertones, as well as general pack pairings. Title from “End Of The Day” by One Direction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the roof was pretty windy (she didn't say a word)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a dropout](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=a+dropout).



It’s the little moments like this.

“How’d you get here?” Kira asks her. Kira’s the new girl. She’s small, and her cheeks are still round with baby fat. Her eyes are always wide. Erica’s been told to call her Lightning, because that’s her superhero name - she can control lightning.

Erica looks down at the girl, who’s only one year younger than her in age, but seemingly a million inches shorter. “I fell off a roof when I was three,” Erica says. “And my parents found out I could fly. They sent me here, and then they named me Soar, because I can fly.”

Kira just nods. “You’ve been here your whole life?”

“Yeah,” Erica says. “I’ve been here my whole life.”

“And you don’t mind? You don’t feel different at all?”

Erica just smiles at the new girl. “No,” she says, “And you won’t either.”

It’s the little moments like this that shape your entire life.

* * *

Erica and Allison have always been close.

They’re the same age, and they both arrived at the training facility when they were toddlers. Neither of them can remember a life before this. Both of them easily fall into their roles - Erica as a scout, Allison as a front offence. They both believe that what they are doing is for the good of the world; after all, they are being trained to save it.

“What are we being trained to save the world from?” Erica asks Allison one day out of curiosity. “They’ve never actually told us.”

“The monsters,” Allison replies. She’s only ten - she’s answering to the best of her ability. “The bad people out there.”

“But where are the monsters?” Erica says.

“I don’t know,” Allison says. “I don’t know.”

They continue training anyways. Erica decides it doesn’t really matter. As long as she has Allison, she’ll be okay.

* * *

When they’re thirteen, they find the monsters.

Another group of super-powered people has been developing the entire time. Their goal is to rid the world of regular humans, and populate the world with just super-powered ones. Apparently, several times they’ve asked Erica’s group to join them.

Agent McCall is the leader of their group. He gathers them all up - Erica, Allison, Kira, Boyd, Cora, and Scott - and he tells them that this other group is a bad group, one that they need to fight against. “This is the kind of threat we’ve been training for,” he says. “So now we’ll be training extra hard in order to perfect our team.”

“Sir, yessir,” Erica says, in perfect chorus with the others. They don’t see a fault with it.

* * *

Two years later.

“Agent McCall?”

He looks up when Erica enters his office. “Hey, Soar,” he says. “What’s on your mind?”

Erica sits in the seat across from him. “I was just thinking,” she begins. “About the enemy group, the ones that want to eliminate the regular humans. We’ve been preparing to battle them for two years now - but they haven’t made a move, they haven’t done anything, and if they were such a big threat, wouldn’t they have tried something by now?”

Agent McCall gives her one long, hard look. “I suppose they haven’t done anything yet because they know we’re a big force.”

“But sir, didn’t they ask us to join them? That sounds pretty peaceful to me.”

“Soar…you’re young. You don’t know how harsh the world is.”

Erica doesn’t know what to say, but she knows something isn’t adding up. She takes a deep breath before looking Agent McCall in the eye. “I just feel like us super-powered people should stick together,” she says. “Maybe we could go talk to their team? Just powered people talking to other powered people, like a diplomatic mission-”

“Soar!” Agent McCall slams his fist down on the table, cutting Erica off. “This isn’t a discussion we will have. Those people are evil. Don’t you listen? They have an evil, evil goal. Do you want to assist a group that wants to kill every human alive?”

“That’s not-”

“I brought you to this group for your own well-being,” he snaps. Erica’s never seen him like this before - he’s always been like a father to her, but now, now she doesn’t know. “Is this your way of saying you don’t want to be here? You don’t appreciate the care I’ve given you all your life?”

I didn’t ask to be here, Erica thinks, but she can’t say that, because she wants to be here. She loves Kira, and Scott, and Boyd and Cora (though she thinks of them as one singular unit these days), and she especially loves Allison. She can’t give that up, so she bites her tongue.

“That’s what I thought,” Agent McCall says. “Are we clear?”

“Sir, yessir,” Erica says, but this time it’s bitter. She gets up and leaves without looking back.

* * *

It’s funny how things can all go to hell in only a matter of months.

Erica and her team have always known that Agent McCall works with other people, but they had never seen any of them until one morning. They awoke to a whole circle of people sitting in the main conference room. Agent McCall quickly introduced them as Noshiko and Ken, two teachers with extensive knowledge; Natalie, a scientist; and Chris, a strategist.

According to them, the enemy group had finally made a strike. Noshiko had figured out that they were going to be planting a bomb on the roof of a government building where several country leaders were going to be meeting. Agent McCall was tasking their team with intercepting them, and taking them out before the bomb could be placed.

“This is what we’ve been training for,” he had said. “Soar and Huntress, you’ll take the offence and be the two that go onto the roof. Lightning will stay on the outskirts, and be the back-up. Claw, Bite, and Reflex will check out the neighbouring roofs in case we have the wrong one.”

The whole team looked at each other uneasily. None of them were really in the mindset that this team could be that super evil, but none of them - especially not Erica, after her previous encounter with Agent McCall - wanted to say so. Boyd and Cora - Bite and Claw, respectfully - grabbed each other’s hands and held on tight. Kira seemed to shrink into herself, with Scott - Reflex - made himself taller. Erica and Allison just looked in each other’s eyes, communicating a million things without having to say a word. It was what made them unique.

“Then it’s all settled. Get ready to leave,” Agent McCall had said. “Huntress, can I have a word?” Allison gave Erica’s shoulder a squeeze and moved over to the group.

It’s funny, now, Erica thinks. She never did find out what they had told Allison.

Now it doesn’t really matter.

They’d gotten up to the roof, alright. There was only a red-haired girl and a lanky looking boy on the roof. There was no bomb. “What’s going on here?” Erica had said, approaching slowly, stretching out her limbs after the fly up there. Allison had drawn her boy and was getting ready to shoot.

The redhead stepped forwards. “Hi. I’m Lydia, and this is Stiles…we’re here for peace talks.”

“Peace talks?” Erica echoed. “I…but the bomb?”

Lydia and Stiles had exchanged a confused look. “What bomb? We’re here for diplomacy?”

All of Erica’s training was screaming at her that they were lying, that there was a bomb, and that she should fly forwards and knock them off the roof. But a small part of her, a tiny part, was thinking maybe they were telling the truth, and Agent McCall had sent them up here on false pretences. Maybe they were the bad guys.

“You might be.” Erica looked over - Allison was the one who’d spoken. “I’m sorry, Erica.”

And then Allison had pointed the bow at Erica and fired.

* * *

They’re seven. Allison’s just gotten injured in a training session and can’t stop crying. Erica can’t bare to hear the sobs - she walks over, and wraps her arms around the small brunette. The tears stop.

They’re nine. “I don’t like my name,” Allison says. “‘Huntress’ doesn’t sound like me.” Erica promises that she won’t ever call her that - she’ll always call her Allison. It placates the tears.

They’re ten and Erica’s hair is too long. Allison holds up a pair of scissors. “If I can shoot a bow, I can cut hair,” Allison says, and then she does. It’s sort of choppy, and sort of uneven, but it’s the way Erica likes.

They’re twelve. “Grab on!” Erica shouts, and as soon as Allison does she lifts off and flies into the air. They laugh the entire time, and only come down when Erica’s too tired to stay up.

They’re thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and Allison has slowly become Erica’s world and she wasn’t even aware of most of it.

They’re sixteen. “I’m sorry, Erica,” Allison says, and fires her bow. Erica’s barely aware of the arrow that pierces her left shoulder. It’s a flesh wound - it doesn’t hit anything, and it won’t hurt her at all. She doesn’t know it’s there until the impact has pushed her backwards off the roof.

“I’m sorry, Erica,” Huntress says, and none of it matters anymore.

* * *

When Erica opens her eyes for the first time, she’s greeted by a pile of red hair, swooping over her face and into her eyes.

The second time, someone was gripping her shoulders and a boy with brown hair and brown eyes was looking at her with concern.

The third time, she’s no longer on the cement ground, and finds herself on something soft and hard at the same time. Her vision is still focusing but she quickly figures out that she’s lying on top of a soft blanket, but the blanket was thin and she could feel the hard ground under it. The next thing she notices is that the arrow is no longer in her shoulder, but she can’t remember why that’s important.

For a moment, she thinks her eyes are going to shut again, but Erica manages to keep them open and finds it in herself to sit up. All of a sudden, red hair enters her vision once more. “Finally decided to stick around, huh?” the girl says. Erica decides in that moment the girls’ hair is more strawberry-blonde.

Erica doesn’t say anything, but she nods and takes a second to look around the room. She’s lying on a blanket in the middle of a wooden room. Some of the walls have clearly fallen apart, with newer-looking boards crudely nailed in over the gaps. The red-headed girl is sitting in front of her, her eyes fixed on Erica. A brown haired boy - the same one she had seen before, whenever that was - sits in the corner, his back against the wall and bored eyes staring at the floor.

“I’m Lydia,” the girls says. She gestures to the boy, “and that’s Stiles.”

A memory rushes in as Erica really looks at Lydia for the first time. She’s seen her before - on the roof, on the roof where Erica and Allison were sent to stop her. They had been sent to stop Lydia, and yet…Allison, Allison had shot her with an arrow and pushed her off a roof. And Lydia had been the one to save her.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Erica found herself muttering.

“O-kay,” Lydia says, letting out a sarcastic sigh. “Why don’t we start with your name?”

Erica slowly looks up. “I’m Erica. I…what exactly happened?”

Lydia and Stiles exchange a quick look. “I don’t know. We come from a group of Gifted people who are trying to help the world find peace, and unite all nations. We’ve been aware of the presence of your group for a while, but we were never sure what to make of you - and then, a couple weeks ago, the leader of your group reached out to us. Agent McCall, right?”

Erica just nods.

“Right…he reached out to the leader of our group, Melissa, and said he was interested in diplomatic talks and the possibility of merging groups. He said he would send two of his best people to meet two of our best people and then we’d talk. It was what we wanted, so Melissa sent us, because most of our other group members were elsewhere in the world. We were expecting peace talks, and then your girl went nuts.”

Stiles looks up briefly, his eyes still bored. “It’s true.”

Erica can’t breathe. She can’t even think - she doesn’t know why, but she can feel that Lydia is telling the truth, but if she is then…everything Erica was brought up to know has been a lie. That means that man that took her from her home, that took her from her parents and changed her life, is a monster. That means that her group, her team, her people that made her life so much better…they were the evil group, the bad ones.

She just can’t breathe.

* * *

She can only think of one question to ask. “What did you mean by 'Gifted?’”

Lydia looks slightly surprised, and even Stiles looks slightly less bored. “Well, that’s just what we are,” she says. “People that have abilities, superpowers, I guess. Some people are born with Gifts, and we make the world a better place with them.”

That’s it. That’s how Erica knows they’re not lying to her.

* * *

“Okay,” she says. “Okay. I’m with you. What now?”

Lydia doesn’t have to answer. A beeping sound fills the room. Lydia glances at Stiles before she taps her ear. Only now Erica realizes that Lydia’s wearing an earpiece. “It’s Wailing Woman here,” Lydia says. A pause. “Yeah, I’m with one of them. Sleuth’s also here. You’re outside? Great.” Pause. “Okay. Be right out. Over.”

Lydia looks up. “That was Melissa. She just got here. You still with us?”

Erica sighs. Her whole world has changed and she can’t keep up - the only way she can manage to stand up is to not even think about Alli -

Huntress. She can’t think about Huntress or she’s going to go completely insane.

“Yeah,” she says. “I’m with you. But I need to contact my team.”

“Bite and Claw are already with us,” Stiles says. His low voice sounds just as bored as his eyes.

“Their names are Boyd and Cora,” Erica says, almost as a reflex. “We didn’t get to choose our names,” she explains. “They…aren’t that good.”

“What was yours?” Lydia asks softly.

“Soar. Because I can fly.”

“That’s ironic, considering you fell off a roof,” Stiles quips, smirking a little. Erica glances over at him at the same time Lydia shoots him a look.

Lydia sighs. “I choose Wailing Woman because I scream whenever someone is about to die…we all kind of chose Stiles’ name for him, but he’s Sleuth, because he can figure out anything. He’s really perceptive, I guess.”

Stiles jerks his head to one side, which Erica supposes is his way of agreeing.

“If Boyd and Cora are with you,” Erica says, “then I still need to figure out what happened to Kira and Scott and -”

“The other girl from the roof?”

Erica roughly swallows. It’s answer enough.

“We’ll find them,” Lydia promises. “First things first, let’s get out of here.”

* * *

Here’s what Erica learns:

When she fell off the roof, her flight powers never took over until she was inches from the ground. Lydia says she saw Erica almost hit the ground, stop suddenly, and then continue her fall, so the impact felt like nothing, but it still knocked her out.

The wooden room was one of the Gifted team’s safe havens. Lydia and Stiles took her there, took out the arrow, and made sure she wasn’t going to die.

Melissa is a friendly woman, with kind eyes and a kinder smile. Her team is fairly large, and spans out all over the world, wherever the humans need help. Their main priority is to avoid fighting and stay out of sight. So far, they’ve been successful.

Agent McCall is actually the one who wants to destroy all of humanity, and he was going to trick Erica’s team into doing it. The thought makes her sick.

Boyd and Cora saw what happened on the roof from where they were hiding, and saw Lydia and Stiles take Erica to safety. They managed to find another member of Melissa’s team and Melissa offered them sanctuary and the chance to join her team. They accepted immediately.

Agent McCall has learned about everything, and captured Kira and Scott. He’s holding them in their old headquarters, saying he won’t let them go until Erica, Boyd, Cora and Huntress return. Erica can’t imagine what’s being done to them, but Erica knows that her first priority is rescuing them.

No one has seen Allison since.

“Knowing everything that you know,” Melissa says to her, “would you like a spot on our team? I promise you we will rescue Kira and Scott and put an end to McCall.”

Erica looks around Melissa’s office, in their headquarters. It’s different here. At Agent McCall’s headquarters, every single corner of the room reminded her of a time when Allison had been there, or mentioned it, or marked it in some way. Allison has never been here before.

“Yes,” she says. “I would.”

* * *

“Oh my god, Erica!”

The embrace with Cora is short and sweet, but Erica stays long enough to feel safe in her arms. Boyd doesn’t give hugs, but Erica puts a hand on his shoulder and he does the same. “It’s good to see you again,” he says, his smile so wide that Erica can see his fangs.

“You have no idea,” she whispers. The three just look at each other. There are so many words that could be said but they aren’t being spoken.

It’s too much. Surrounded by people she has known her entire life, Erica begins to cry.

No eyes stay dry.

* * *

The rescue mission leaves not three hours later.

Lydia, Stiles, Boyd, Cora, and Erica all depart. Melissa promises them she’ll have backup posted on every street corner, in the air, and at headquarters just in case. Erica has seen quite a few people in this headquarters, and it stuns her every time someone walks by and smiles - they are all Gifted. It’s a feeling she never knew she could have; this sense of belonging in a larger sense.

Before she leaves, Melissa gives the three new arrivals an earpiece each. “Just tap on it and we’ll all be able to hear you. Before you do, though - you’re going to need a codename. What would you like?”

Boyd and Cora exchange a look. “If it’s just code names,” Cora says, “I’ll stay Claw and Boyd will stay Bite. But outside of that…we’re just Boyd and Cora.” Melissa nods in understanding.

Erica thinks for one second, before she remembers.

“Soar isn’t a good name,” twelve-year-old Allison whispers to Erica one night, as they’re curled up together in bed.

“No,” Erica agrees. “It’s not.”

“I think you should be something brighter,” Allison says. “Because you light up my world.”

Erica looks up. “I’d like to be Firefly.”

* * *

It doesn’t take long to get to Agent McCall’s headquarters.

“There’s a back entrance,” Erica whispers. “Normally I enter from the roof, but, I don’t think I can carry all of you up there.”

“Fair enough,” Lydia says. “Lead us in.”

Boyd and Cora let Erica take the lead, even though they know it just as well as she does. Finally, they get to the entrance - a window in the back that can be opened. There are never any guards; no one would ever bother to crawl through the window.

As soon as Erica touches the glass, a piercing alarm cuts through the air. They all stay still and look around but no one is coming. In seconds, Erica knows why it’s there - they aren’t in danger, but Kira and Scott are.

“He knows we’re here,” Stiles whispers. “Just open the window. It won’t hurt us more.”

He’s not wrong, so Erica quickly gets the window open and they all make it through. Lydia’s feet haven’t been on the ground for a minute before she suddenly shouts, “Stiles!”

Stiles’ head turns sharply and then suddenly his hand flies out and covers Lydia’s mouth. Erica’s about to question, but then she remembers - Lydia’s the Wailing Woman. She screams whenever death is about to happen. Erica can’t imagine the number of missions these two have gone on so that Stiles knew exactly what she meant.

Lydia’s eyes glaze over slightly and then she starts to scream. Stiles manages to block most of the noise, but the scream can still be heard.

Cora shuffles a little before whispering, “Does that mean one of us is going to…die?”

Stiles shrugs. “It means Lydia is going to see someone die, mostly. I don’t know.”

They don’t have to wait long. Agent McCall walks into the room. He’s alone, which Erica doesn’t expect. “Soar, Bite, Claw. Finally returned home, have we? And I see you brought some friends. How nice. Come, we’ve got lots of debriefing to do.”

Erica stands up straight and takes a step towards him. “Where are they?”

His face hardens. “Come now, don’t be so rude.”

“I said, where are they?”

He steps forwards once to equal her. “Don’t forget I am the one who rescued you from what was sure to be a hell of a life. I am the one who fed you, who clothed you, and who taught you how to live with your ability. I surrounded you in a positive environment where you thrived. You owe everything to me. I would choose your next words very carefully.”

Boyd steps up. “You may have done that, but you twisted our thinking. You were the one who wanted to destroy all of humanity, and you tricked us into following you.”

Agent McCall shrugs. “I did what I had to do. Now you are, too. Is that so different?”

“Yes,” Cora adds, flanking Erica’s other side. “Yes, it is, and you know it too.”

Lydia still hasn’t stopped screaming.

“You’re going to tell me where Scott and Kira are right now,” Erica says. “Because right now, you’re facing off with five Gifted people who are all better than you.”

As soon as she says her words, Noshiko, Ken, and Chris step out of the shadows. They were the three advisors with Agent McCall when he had sent them out only yesterday. “Sure,” he says, “But you’re facing off against four adults who are so, so more trained than you. Still want to do this?”

Erica glances at those around her. Lydia’s stopped screaming, but she can’t seem to move off the floor. Stiles gets up and joins them, though, making it four and four. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Erica hisses.

It begins.

* * *

It’s a frenzy of bodies, flying up against each other. Boyd’s fangs come out as well as Cora’s claws. Erica launches herself into the air and flies up and over the four adults, landing behind Ken and landing a kick to his head. It doesn’t take him down.

She hears screaming and sees blood. Boyd’s bitten into Noshiko’s arm, and she can’t shake him. Cora’s being cornered, but her claws are flying and they are no match for Chris. Stiles is one step ahead of Agent McCall, and no matter what he does, he counters.

Erica’s determined to take them down. All she can think about is Kira’s innocent face when she first joined, or Scott’s confident demeanour. She thinks of nights when they all stayed in laughing, or days when they went out and walked. She thinks of how they don’t deserve this. She thinks of how they could already be dead.

She thinks they could win.

It doesn’t last.

There’s no definite turning point but all of a sudden Ken manages to grab Erica’s leg and slam her down onto the ground, dazing her. Noshiko shakes Boyd and grabs him, twisting him into a headlock. Chris somehow grabs one of Cora’s claws and starts twisting so far until it snaps right off, causing Cora to haul in pain. Agent McCall makes quick work of Stiles as soon as the smaller boy makes one simple mistake.

Lydia starts screaming again, louder than before.

“Wait,” Agent McCall says, just as Ken is about to grab Erica. “I want her. I’m going to end her.”

* * *

Erica tries to shuffle backwards as fast as possible but Agent McCall is approaching too quickly for her. She’s getting closer and closer to Lydia and Lydia is screaming louder and louder and dammit, Erica doesn’t want to die but Agent McCall has murder in his eyes.

Her back hits the wall and Agent McCall leans down to her, his hands reaching out. Cora’s still howling in pain, her claw snapped off. Boyd’s face is covered in blood. Stiles barely looks like he’s moving.

Agent McCall’s hands close around Erica’s neck. Fly away, she thinks, Just get up and fly away…

But she can’t. She just can’t seem to manage it. And she doesn’t know why, but it’s over.

His hands tighten and he’s laughing and now she can’t fly, and she can’t breathe. She’s choking. Lydia screams and screams and-

Agent McCall’s hands slack. His eyes glaze over. He falls to the floor and Erica can breathe.

Allison’s standing in the doorway and Agent McCall has an arrow in his heart.

* * *

“Erica,” Allison whispers. “Oh, Erica, I…I’m so sorry.”

Erica can’t look at her, but she manages to scramble backwards away from Agent McCall’s body. Noshiko, Ken, and Chris all look stunned, but none of them look like they know what do to. They glance to the doorway, to Agent McCall and then - then they all run out of there. Erica knows she’ll never see them again.

Boyd manages to get up and he runs to Cora, grabbing her and holding her close. They both look like they’ll be alright, though Cora will be missing one of ten claws and Boyd looks like he’ll have some scarring. Stiles has woken up and has moved over to Lydia.

It’s then Erica finds the courage to look up.

Allison’s got tears in her eyes but she’s standing strong, just like she always has. “Erica,” she says. “Please, I need to explain.”

Erica just shakes her head. “I…I want you to. I want you to give me a reasonable explanation for everything but how can you?”

Allison goes ahead with it anyways, her words coming out fast and jumbled, so fast Erica can barely make sense of them. “Agent McCall gave me special instructions,” she says. “He told me that I was going to be an undercover spy, and that when we went out to meet the other group I was going to have to shoot you to convince them that I was ready to join them. Agent McCall told me that you were in on it, and that you were going to fly away and everything would be fine. But then you didn’t fly away. And I realized that I had done - Agent McCall just wanted me to kill you.”

Erica can’t help it - her eyes widen. “I…Alli…”

“C'mon,” she says. “Kira and Scott are in the next room.”

Erica looks back at the people on her team behind her. They nod to her, saying they were okay. Allison holds out her hand.

“Everything’s just happening so fast,” Erica whispers, but she grabs on, and she promises never to let go again.

They find Kira and Scott, knocked out, but alive and unharmed.

When they return back to Melissa’s headquarters - their headquarters - Erica’s never been happier.

* * *

It’s the little moments like this.

Wind whips through Erica’s long blonde hair as she stands on the edge of the roof, her barefoot toes curling over the edge. Allison stands beside her, their hands intertwined.

“Melissa’s got me going out to Japan tomorrow,” Allison whispers.

“I know,” Erica says. “Stay safe, okay?”

“When am I not?” Allison says, laughing.

“And get back soon,” Erica reminds her. “Otherwise, I’ll have to spend my time listening to Kira tell me more lightning puns.”

“Gotta admit, Kira’s power to control lightning is pretty sweet,” Allison sighs. “Not going to lie, I’m a little jealous.”

“I think you’re just fine,” Erica says, looking over and smiling.

Allison just smiles. “I know.”

Hand-in-hand, they lean forwards and fall off the roof, watching the ground rush up to meet them, before Erica swoops around and Allison falls onto her back. They fly off together, their hands never leaving the other person’s.

It’s the little moments like this where a person looks back at their entire life and they realize they don’t regret any of it.


End file.
